Facebook is adding additional tags to Pages posts that appear in users’ News Feeds to reduce confusion about their sources. These tags will include “public officials”, “fan pages” and “sarcasm pages.” The company said it has begun testing the deployment of these tags in the United States and will gradually include these tags in more posts.
Facebook did not give any explanation as to why these tags were added, but it seems to be particularly important to identify satire. Look at the social sharing of funny articles written by well-known satirical websites such as Onion.com or Babylon Bee. You will find that many people believe these stories.
In this context, these articles are essentially misleading, even if their creators did not intend to. Even high-profile figures such as former President Donald Trump have mistaken these funny articles for real reports.
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This is not the first time the social networking giant has tried to make the background of the posts in the News Feed clearer. In June of last year, it began labeling media that were “fully or partially controlled by its government editors.”
Starting today in the US, we’re testing a way to give people more context about the Pages they see. We’ll gradually start applying labels including 'public official,' 'fan page' or 'satire page' to posts in News Feed, so people can better understand who they’re coming from. pic.twitter.com/Bloc3b2ycb
— Meta Newsroom (@MetaNewsroom) April 7, 2021
Facebook believes that this type of media needs to be labeled because “they combine the influence of a media organization and the strategic support of a country. We believe that people should know whether the news they read comes from a publication that may be affected by the government.”
